A special squad of Kerala police are headed to West Bengal to nab the remaining eight members of a gang accused of carrying out violent robberies in Kochi, believed to be hiding on the West Bengal-Bangladesh border.

The robberies occurred last month and Kochi police suspect that Noorkhan, a resident of Delhi, who is believed to have masterminded the robberies, has fled to Bangladesh. Three members of the gang have been nabbed in Delhi.

Since they had destroyed most of the SIM cards used and fled in different directions, police were finding it difficult to track members of the gang. However, the police confirmed that at least some members of the gang had fled to Bangladesh. Kerala Police will coordinate with Border Security Force (BSF) to trace their route.

“Tracing the remaining members should be a tough task given that they have dispersed to different directions, while some of them have even fled the country,” officials said speaking to The Hindu.

On December 15, armed members attacked an elderly couple and took away their gold ornaments from their residence at Pullepady. The gang attacked EK Ismail and his wife as they were getting ready to leave to the mosque. They even slit the wrist of the woman in a bid to scare the couple.

Two days later, armed members broke into the house of Nannappilli Anandakumar and tied up family members, looting three mobile phones, two ATM cards along with 50 sovereigns of gold and Rs. 20,000 in cash.

Police believe that most gang members had knowledge of Malayalam suggesting that they had visited Kerala before. Three gang members who were nabbed in Delhi will be brought to Kochi on Sunday for further questioning. Mobile phone records and CCTV footage helped police nab Arshad and Roni, natives of Bangladesh while Shehzad is from Bihar.